Crash survivor told to harden up
THE only man to survive the Anzac Day helicopter crash that killed three servicemen was told by a superior to ‘‘harden the f... up’’ just five months into his rehabilitation.
Sergeant Stevin Creeggan secretly videotaped the conversation with an unidentified warrant officer, who told him he was not the only member of the air force who had been in a crash and that he needed to ‘‘move on’’ from it. flypast in the capital.
His fellow crewmen, Flight Lieutenant Hayden Madsen, 33, Flying Officer Dan Gregory, 28, and Corporal Ben Carson, 25, were all killed.
Creeggan told Campbell Live last night that he felt the air force did everything it could to make his life a misery when he returned to work in January 2011.
His commanding officer banned him from talking about the crash with his fellow squadron members and was not interested in discussing it either when Creeggan knocked on his door.
‘‘He said no other CO has to put up with this bullshit, now get out.’’
He was made to feel as if everything that had happened to him was his own fault. There was no such thing as an air force family. ‘‘Everyone cares about their own careers and no one else.’’
The crash left Creeggan with severe chest, leg and spinal injuries. He suffered burns and 18 fractures to his face, as well as a broken femur and vertebrae, he said.
A court of inquiry into the crash found the crew were not fully trained for flying low in the heavy cloud they encountered that day.
Creeggan later prosecuted the Defence Force for failing to protect the men from the hazards of operating helicopters.
The Defence
Force
pleaded guilty to the charge in July and was ordered to pay Creeggan and his family $20,000 reparation on top of the $70,000 compensation it had already paid.
A Defence Force spokesperson said last night that the NZDF and Creeggan undertook a mediation process in April last year.
Any concerns or complaints Creeggan had regarding his treatment after the Anzac Day accident were addressed, they said. ‘‘A full and final confidential settlement was reached at that time, and the NZDF has fully discharged its responsibilities under that agreement.’’